Overall, this was a nice little town, a little challenging at times, but nice.
It was pretty full there as we found out when we got there that is was Indonesian Independence Day while we were there. Kelly and I stayed in a pricey place the first night until we could look for a bit cheaper of a place the next morning. It was difficult get a straight answer from locals when we asked them about the upcoming celebrations, and we seemed to get a different story from everyone we asked. On the morning of the big day (62 years of freedom!) Kelly and I, joined by Simon, headed down to a palace where there was to be a parade and festivities. Well, we waited for several hours while officials and guests piled into the grounds (us commoners were held to looking through the gates) but nothing every really materialized. We did seem to be quiet a sight for the locals; many were photographing us, and it seemed that any that could were constantly approaching us to practice their english (a very common thing on Java).
On another day Kelly and I rented a motorbike and drove the hour out of town in search of one of the main ruin sites outside of Jogya only to get stopped by a parade a mile or two away. It was a bit frustrating as it took a while to get out there for nothing, but the parade was worth a watch for a few minutes.
The next day we headed to the other main temple Complex at Prambanan. It was pretty extensively damaged by a big earthquake here a couple of years ago, so much of the temple was off limits, but still an impressive sight. The following day we headed back to the first temple sight- Borobrodur. This is said to rival the great sights of Ankor Wat and Began, both of which we were lucky enough to see before making it here. Borobrodur remains in excellent shape, much better than the other two sights, although signs of looting and vandalism is also fairly evident. Many pieces of the temple are currently proudly on display in the living rooms of heartless black-market art buyers. It was still an excellent sight.
On our final night we headed back to the Prambanan temple to watch a performance of the famous local Ramanyana Ballet, performed with the flood-lit temple in the background. Although it was long, and a bit hard to follow, it was still an interesting show of local indigenous dance.
Aside from enjoying temples, Kelly and I enjoyed doing a little bit of shopping, and had the pleasure of meeting a nice Balinese man Jhonny, who kept us very entertained. One of the highlights with Jhonny was our night of Karaoke, just the three of us and the staff singing the night away.
Tarima kasi Jhonny!